Hampton Expands School Breakfast Plan

All Elementary Kids Eligible For Free Meal

Hampton school administrators want to do more than feed the hunger to learn. They want to feed hunger, period.

So starting next school year, every Hampton elementary school student will be entitled to a free breakfast.

Many area public schools already offer free breakfasts to children from low-income families in light of mounting research showing that breakfast and brain power go hand in hand.

But Hampton is expanding its breakfast program to all 11,000 elementary school children - and it's not supposed to cost taxpayers any additional money.

The school system will be using the profits it makes on the sale of individual food items such cookies, ice cream, fruit juice and high school vending machine purchases, said Carol Clark, the director of food and nutrition services.

``We had some money from a la carte sales and thought we could give this back to the students in some ways,'' Clark said.

In the past, that money has gone toward the purchase of new cafeteria equipment or computer systems. But starting this fall, that money will be used to buy more cereal, fruit Danishes, doughnuts and French toast sticks, Clark said.

Money that previously went toward warehouse rental space is also being redirected to the breakfast program, she said.

Students who didn't qualify for a free meal last year will now be able to walk through the breakfast line without having to carry pocket change. With a full- or reduced-price meal costing between 25 cents and 55 cents, the new program could save some parents more than $130 a year in milk money.

``We're real excited about it,'' Clark said.

She said Portsmouth is the only area system offering a similar program.

Clark points to national research that suggests students who eat breakfast in the morning are less distracted, have better attendance, earn better grades and make fewer trips to the nurse's office.

Yet according to the American Dietetic Association, a recent survey found that as many as 30 percent of elementary and middle school-age children don't eat breakfast every day.

In Hampton schools alone, about 4,000 of the school system's 24,000 Hampton students ate breakfast last year, and only half of the low-income children who qualify for free breakfasts actually chose to get one, Clark said.

The school system has taken steps to make breakfast a more attractive option in recent years, Clark said. Two years ago, the district offered free breakfasts to all Moton Elementary students. Last year, the system offered free breakfasts every Wednesday to students at three elementary schools.

Vatara Slade, principal of Bryan Elementary, said she noticed a marked difference in behavior between the students who ate in the morning and those who didn't.

In a few instances, she said, students who went without food have even gotten sick and had to be taken to the cafeteria for a meal after the breakfast lines closed.

``If they are not receiving a meal in the morning, then they're not ready to work,'' Slade said. ``They're not ready for the day's lessons.''

Even with these programs in place, however, Clark said the number of students eating before classes did not increase substantially.

This spring, Clark got the support from the city's 24 elementary school principals to begin offering free breakfasts to all children. Because 40 percent of Hampton's elementary students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, Clark said she's confident the school system can handle the increased costs.

Exactly how much that will be will depends on the mix of students who come through breakfast lines, Clark said. But student choices will be more limited than in past years. In order to get all the children fed before class starts, students will have only one meal choice instead of three.

The transportation department is also being asked to make sure all students arrive at school half an hour early so they have time to finish their food before the school bell rings.

This may mean that some students may have to get an earlier start to catch the bus, Clark said. While some drivers have gotten students to school with plenty of time to spare for breakfast, not all have, she said.

``It's going to take a while in September to get all the buses straight,'' Clark said.

- Sandra Tan can be reached at 247-7854 or by e-mail at stan@dailypress.com

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

The School Breakfast Program is a federal program started in 1966. It reimburses schools that provide breakfasts to children from low-income families. Schools are not required to participate in the program.

Those that do participate provide free or reduced-price breakfasts to children living near or below the poverty level. Other students and adults can typically purchase a breakfast for a fee.

Area school systems charged between 55 cents and 95 cents for a full-price breakfast last year, and between 20 cents and 30 cents for a reduced-price breakfast.

More than 7 million children and 67,063 schools nationwide participated in the School Breakfast Program in the 1997 fiscal year. The cost to the federal government was about $1.2 million.

About a fourth of school systems that offer federal school lunch programs do not yet offer the federal breakfast program.

- Source: Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit research and public policy center based in Washington, D.C.